REWIND FIVE DECADES AND STIR THE MEMORIES

On an August night at a nightclub in Manhattan, in a concert focused on musicals from 1975, Robert Cuccioli revealed that “the seed was planted” in his desire to make musical theatre his career when he saw and was inspired by John Cullum playing the lead in Shenandoah. He followed this with a strong-voiced rendition of that show’s “I’ve Heard It All Before.” During the evening of music and memories shared, few in the audience at 54 Below could say “I’ve heard it all before” because, in addition to the more famous songs and core facts, there were obscure tunes from productions that didn’t last long or get cast albums as well as behind-the-scenes stories that don’t fall into the category of “oft-told tales.”

For New York City’s musical theatre productions, the calendar year 1975 certainly had its contrasts. The shows’ stories took place in such diverse locations as Virginia, Vietnam, and the very beloved Land of Oz. Characters in other attractions included hitchhikers, a bandit, murderers, professional dancers, a sweet transvestite scientist, and Joan of Arc. Some lasted longer than others. Not counting its earlier off-Broadway run, A Chorus Line stuck around at the Shubert Theatre for  6,137 performances. Looking at the other extreme, several exited the scene the same month the cast made its entrances on opening night; Truckload closed in previews. After a troubled tryout out of town, fearing they were out of luck, out of hope and out of money, producers of The Wiz  posted a closing notice on opening night, but new investors and TV commercials saved the day and it stayed on for a little over four years. Well, that’s show biz. Perspective changes; those living through challenges of the 1970s might have wondered what that period would seem like in the future. Today’s not-so-good times may become “Tomorrow’s Good Old Days” opines a super-catchy item cut from Goodtime Charley, vibrantly vocalized, with the requisite cheer, by Michael Lavine, who’s often primarily the pianist for events at 54 Below that, like this one, are produced by Robert W. Schneider.

The evening of August 19th was an often lively show that was also live-streamed. Some of the most impactful and interesting moments came courtesy of the participation of people who were actually part of those productions half a century ago. Memories and voices can remain strong. While the recollections were often interesting, terseness was not always the order of the day, with some unnecessary details and a bit of meandering in the telling, swelling the running time. The program’s smiling, gracious master of ceremonies was Matt Koplik, who’s hosted and/or sung in other Broadway-themed group shows at the venue (and has been busy talking about the Great White Way in his own way with a podcast called “Broadway Breakdown”).

After our host’s opening remarks about what politics, prices and pop culture were like in 1975, the musical part of the festivities began with a bang as his introduction for the first performer included the term “drag queen” and a bit about the history of The Rocky Horror Show. Enter that singer, who goes by the name of Jacklynn Hyde (recalling the title of a based-on-a-novel musical that would come along in 1997), sashaying and winking with “Sweet Transvestite,” with playful audience eye contact. It was, however, a bit disconcerting to begin a show with accompaniment provided by a pre-recorded backing track when the pianist/music director du jour, Canaan J. Harris, was sitting at the keyboard. He’s been in that spot for those duties two dozen times at the club since 2022, including a night of songs he wrote or co-wrote; he was quickly put to work to accompany the rest of the company, doing a splendid job.

The first veteran of a 1975 production’s cast to speak was Virginia Seidel, covering the saga of a revival of Very Good Eddie (which transferred from the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut to Broadway). She chatted about various VIPs attending and her interview with a New York Times reporter whose usual beat was crime and politics. Instead of singing from the score, the capable Samantha Altman did so when Miss Seidel left the stage and left “Left All Alone Again Blues” to a younger charmer. (Actually it’s not a true blues, and it wasn’t actually in the original 1915 score, but was added to the revival, being borrowed from another Jerome Kern score, titled The Night Boat, which sailed to Broadway in 1920, but I digress….) A similar sharing of talking/singing duties came with two other pairs. Michael Colby, who was on the staff for The Robber Bridegroom, amusingly related the tales of its cast changes, etc., and then brought on winsome Megan Styrna to represent the show quite engagingly with “Nothin’ Up.” Notably, she made the most of different parts of the stage space, with well-chosen movements that, along with characterful attitude, made for a multi-faceted performance. Cast members of two productions of The Lieutenant, about the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, were also on board. Steven Boockvor from the original company spoke emotionally about the show’s powerful message (and how something that couldn’t be marketed as a fun time in the theatre didn’t draw much of an audience) and then turned the stage over to Travis Kent, who was in a limited run of the heavy piece at the York Theatre just two years ago. He delivered a searing rendition of “The Conscience of a Nation.” Talk about intense!

The Lieutenant was one of those productions that didn’t last long (9 performances). Others were Boccaccio (6 performances), recalled with one of its numbers, handled by the impressive pair of one of its original cast members, D’Jamin Bartlett and pianist Mark Bornfield — an off-stage couple, too. And then there’s the aforementioned show about a truck that didn’t have a load of luck –Truckload –which didn’t keep on truckin’ after 6 previews. The ebullient Ilene Graff, who was in that cast, playing a 19-year-old groupie, gave it her all with a well-delivered sample of a score that disappeared so quickly.

This satisfying soiree sampling songs heard on Broadway 50 years ago had two that were in a revue of material by a writing team who had their first hit 50 years before 1975. Titled simply after the composer and lyricist’s names, Rodgers and Hart ran for 108 performances. The first selection was “Blue Moon,” shining in the thoughtful performance by Penny Fuller who set it up with a poem by poet laureate Billy Collins which mentions the tune. Lee Roy Reams, who’s an audience favorite and seems to be in almost every 54 Below presentation of this ilk, took on “Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered” with relish and got laughs from his delivery of lines from Lorenz Hart’s original suggestive lyric written for Pal Joey.

The set list veered from its “on Broadway” theme to allow two exceptions for off-Broadway presentations. One was another songwriter revue, largely filled with songs originally planned for Broadway or cut from musicals, written by Leonard Bernstein and various lyricists. This collection of rare stuff composed by Bernstein, which was – creatively (?) titled By Bernstein – was fondly discussed by one of the seven singers who was in it: the classy Kurt Peterson. He offered a wonderfully wistful rendition of “Lonely Me” and, in an unusual move, brought in a “bootleg” audio recording to play: a live and lovely performance of the By Bernstein cast (“Spring Will Come Again”). The other chosen off-Broadway musical was the gay-centric Boy Meets Boy, and Mr. Koplik switched gears from being the genial host with facts and quips to being a musical comedy performer, taking center stage with confidence for “What Do I Care?”

And, of course, there were the biggest Broadway hits of the class of ’75.

Aeja L. Barrows, definitely a star on the rise, hit a home run belting “Home” from The Wiz. And what about Kander & Ebb’s Chicago? Michael Lavine had the assignment of doing something from that; the choice was the once-intended finale, “Loopin’ the Loop.” It was never sung in the show, but the music remained as the first instrumental melody played at the top of Chicago. The evening ended with the super-smash A Chorus Line. Carolyn Kirsch of the original company recalled that unique experience she had one time, as the understudy for two key roles, Cassie and Sheila, when both stars were out and she had to do all of Cassie’s role and what Sheila sang, with that character’s acerbic spoken lines divided up among the cast in a before-the-curtain meeting. Then, with that big, big A Chorus Line number – the one called “One” – Miss Kirsch and Mr. Koplik led a rousing audience sing-along to end the night that was a singular sensation.

No, the program didn’t make room for every Broadway musical to open in 1975, but, on the way out, I didn’t overhear anyone screaming “Why in the name of God wasn’t there anything from Doctor Jazz?” or “Wasn’t there a musical called A Musical Jubilee that was announced as being included? Well, I know it wasn’t an original score, just a collection of older songs, but so was that Rodgers & whoever thing. And speaking of songwriter revues, isn’t the catalogue of Harry Chapin material that made up The Night That Made America Famous famous enough?” And I didn’t hear folks lamenting, “How could they leave out Dance with Me? And where was that musical called The Man in the Moon?” or “I am thoroughly shocked that they left out Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha? I missed the 1975 revival and haven’t seen it since the original — back in the year 1911.” (I’m pretty sure there’s nobody old enough to make that statement.)

Perhaps there will be a concert of Broadway songs from 2025 in the year 2075 that will put them in a new light, as Broadway at 50: The Musicals of 1975 did? They probably won’t seem the same as they do now, as much as we may love the material now. To quote another lyric from Chicago, “In 50 years or so, it’s gonna change, you know./ But, oh, it’s Heaven, nowadays.”